The Story of Your Unaverage Metamorphmagus
by The Pineapple Force
Summary: "Maybe I'm delusional. Maybe I'm just a messed up kid. Whatever my case may be, however, I still saw two, very strange skies staring at me from a million miles high." -Life through the blue/green/brown/fuschia eyes of Teddy Lupin and his friends!
1. Rainbow Hair

**Hi! So, this is my first story, and I'm extremely happy that it's being posted on Lily Evans Potter's birthday! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think about the chapter, and what you think should happen in the chapters to come!**

_Teddy_

The sky sure can look odd sometimes.

Most of the time, it's just a big, blue… _thing_ that obstructs our view from space. But really, today it just looked… peculiar. Half of the sky was a purple-gray color, but it had a hazy, twisted look about it. Where that half ended, a yellow and orange sky began, both of the colors swirling around up above with just a hint of blue marks here and there.

What the heck?

Maybe I'm delusional. Maybe I'm just a messed up kid. Whatever my case may be, however, I still saw two, very strange skies staring at me from a million miles high.

"YOU!"

James and I go way back.

I mean, seriously, I'm kind of shocked we aren't brothers or something. Oh, and before your mind gets carried away, please don't go thinking, "Oh, they could be brothers, so they're exactly alike." Uh-uh. No, sir-ee, we are _far_ from alike. What I mean is, I've known James ever since he was born. In fact, I was there at St. Mungo's when he was in the process of, literally, being brought into the world. He was the first baby I'd ever held. Honestly, he was my first best friend, which is a bit surprising because of our six year age difference, but still.

"Yes?"

"You _promised_ we would end the summer with something fun to do! I didn't think that meant lying down in the grass for the whole day, staring at the sky like it's some interesting television show!"

I replied, "Have you even _looked_ at the sky today? Come sit with me." I patted a spot in the grass to my right.

"I think I'll pass. Come _on_, Teddy! It's your last year at Hogwarts, and my first! You and I have got to do _something_ to start it with a BANG!" As he finished his sentence, he threw grass all over my head.

I sat up, and stared at James. His dark hair was untidy, as usual. Excited eyes looked expectantly at me. "Alright, then. What sort of a bang did you have in mind?"

James smiled an extremely large, rather toothy smile at me. "Come!" He grabbed my hand, towing me inside the Potter house.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked him as Ginny gave us a, well, very _Ginny_ look. We were going up the stairs, no doubt to James's room.

"You'll see!" was his answer.

I was correct; we entered James's room, and he finally let go of my hand. "Alright, Teddy, prepare to be amazed!" James walked to his closet and opened the doors, making his way inside. I stood there, unsure of what he was doing. After about half a second, James stuck his head out of the wardrobe and said, "Well, are you coming or not?"

"Umm… I suppose?" I opened the doors to James's closet, and I was, indeed, amazed.

The closet had been charmed, of course, but I still couldn't get over how _big_ it was. It was practically the size of my grandmother's entire first floor. There were two beanbag chairs in the center, two broomsticks propped up against the wall—one of them being my Rocketmaster6003—, shelves full of snacks, a desk with various muggle board games on it, a "minifridge" as the muggles call it, and _plenty_ of space to fly around in. The ceilings were high, as well. "James, this is amazing! How did you do it?"

"_This_, my friend, is the _true_ Narnia." He stood on his tiptoes so he could then whisper in my ear, "Don't tell anyone, but Dad helped a bit by putting a charm on my closet."

Classic James, eh?

We spent the rest of the night in Narnia, flying around, playing board games, and eventually just talking. James was asking me for a whole load of advice about Hogwarts. He also asked me if I knew that eleven-year-old girl in my grandmother's neighborhood, and if I did, did I happen know if she was going to Hogwarts. I told him that in fact, I _did_ know that girl, and she _would_ be going to Hogwarts. We fell asleep in our beanbag chairs, with smiles on our faces and laughter echoing off the walls.

My dreams are always strange, I suppose. My parents were in them some, but they never spoke. At least, not until tonight.

I was sitting in the guest room at the Potter's house when my father interrupted my reading. He lifted my chin and started talking to me, but I couldn't really hear him. It just looked like his lips were moving.

My mother came in the room, rushing to my bedside and trying to speak to me as well. She took out her wand, muttered an incantation, and then said, "Teddy, can you hear me now?"

"Y-yes," I stammered back to her. I never thought I would hear her voice, ever. Not speaking to me, at least.

It was my father's turn, "Good, you must listen to what we say, and please, _please_ believe us, do you understand?" His piercing gaze really brought out the years of wisdom that were etched into his face.

My mother put her hand on my shoulder. I felt tears well up in my eyes. "I understand," I barely whispered.

"Shh… Don't cry, son," Tonks spoke as she moved her thumb across my cheek. I guess the tears had begun to overflow.

My dad chimed in again, "Dora, he has to know! I know he's been questioning our motives, and we don't have much time!"

"Yes, right. Teddy, we just want you to know _why_ we went to Hogwarts the day we died," my mother told me.

Remus, my father, continued, "We want you to understand that we died the day we did so that you may have a better world, one free of all the hardships we had to face."

"Please tell us that you forgive us, _please_, Teddy! We're nearly out of time!" My mother's hair was fading from its bubblegum pink into a darker shade, being the Metamorphmagus that she was.

My father ran to the guestroom's door, and looked into the hallway, and ducked back into the room quickly, taking a protective stance over my mother. "TEDDY, TELL US NOW!" he yelled.

I was speechless, and surprised, and feeling so many emotions all at the same time. I had no clue what to say or what they wanted from me.

Before I could form any coherent thoughts, a green light exploded from the doorway and into the room, hitting my father in the back. His last expression was fading from his face as my mother caught him before he could hit the floor. She began to cry, while saying, "Remus… Remus… Oh—" However, she was cut short by another green light, hitting her heart. Both of my parents dropped to the floor, emotionless and expressionless. Dead.

My scream was not long-lived, for I heard a voice calling my name, over and over again.

I woke up, panting and sweating. James was sitting to my right, looking extremely concerned. Harry, my godfather, was right in front of me, one hand on my hair. I could see Albus and Lily in the doorway to Narnia, Lily looking quite terrified.

"Teddy." Harry smoothed my sweaty hair away from my forehead.

I sat up, still breathing heavily—not to mention unevenly—and trembling from my nightmare. Now, let me make this clear for you: I'm not the type of person who cries in front of people. I barely cry to myself. But right then and there, I was so shaken, I just couldn't help it. Looking back, I know I shouldn't have cried. I should've spared the kids that moment of sadness—especially Lily, I mean she was only seven, for Merlin's sake.

I sobbed into my godfather's shoulder, accepting his strong arm gratefully. I could only barely hear Ginny saying to the kids, "Come along, now. Go back to bed, you three." I could only barely feel Harry patting my back reassuringly. I could only barely taste the salt from my tears, and I could only barely smell the cotton of Harry's shirt—more likely because of all of my tears soaking it up, but that's not important right now—because all I could see was the pair of people that brought me into existence, crashing. Dying. Right before my eyes.

Once I was done crying my eyes out, I just sort of sat there beside Harry, not really sure of what to do or what to say.

"You can talk about it if you want. We could also just sit here some more. I'm perfectly fine with either," Harry told me.

A couple more minutes of uncomfortable silence passed between us before I spoke, "Have you ever… have you ever had a dream about them? A horrible dream?"

"Yes, Teddy, about your parents _and_ mine."

"Well… that's what happened. You can go back to bed if you want. I think I just want a drink of water before making my way back to my room."

He helped me up, and we exited the closet. As soon as I opened the door, I almost tripped on the sleeping figure of James. Harry let out a single chuckle before reaching down and scooping James up into his arms. I wondered if Harry would ever be too old to pick up his children. I doubted it.

As I was taking a glass out of the cabinet for my water, Ginny walked into the kitchen. She leaned against the counter as I got my water and began sipping it. Ginny stared at me the whole time with her lips pursed and her eyebrows furrowed. Suddenly, she straightened up, walked over to me, and gave me a hug. It was a nice, big Ginny hug. I put my water down and hugged back.

Ginny let go. She grabbed my chin with her thumb and index finger, forcing me to look at her. "Now, I don't know what happened, but I want you to know that you're always welcome to write to us. I know that you always do, but… I just hope you'll remember especially this year." She dropped her hand. "Go back to bed." She left the kitchen.

I awoke from a dreamless sleep. I probably would have slept longer, too, if a certain little eleven-year-old hadn't awoken me. James had poked at my ribs until I was awake. Then he screamed, "We're almost ready for Hogwarts!" and left the room. He'll work as a decent alarm clock if he's put into Gryffindor with me.

Sitting up felt like, well, like how you feel after you've run a long race, or something. You catch my drift. The point is, sitting up was unpleasant that morning. I threw my long legs over the side of my bed just as another one of my godson's children entered my temporary room.

"Teddy?"

Why do children have to be so adorable when you really don't want anyone to be bothering you?

"What is it, Cutie?" I picked up tiny, little Lily and plopped her into my lap.

She put her tiny little fingers right under my eye, and then set her hands down in _her_ lap. "You were sad." She was very good at being straight to the point. "You were crying. And screaming." Her eyebrows crumpled in confusion.

"I just had a bad dream, that's all. You don't need to worry, Lily. Okay?"

She nodded slowly and jumped off my leg. "Mummy says breakfast is almost ready. You should probably come to the kitchen." Lily then left.

I got out of bed and stretched, the soreness of my sleep not yet wearing off. Because of the "adventure" I had in Narnia last night, I hadn't had time to pack; that needed to be done before anything else. Besides leaving my wand, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on my bed, I packed everything I owned in this room into my trunk: books, ink, quills, robes, a photograph album from my grandmother of my parents, and other various magical items.

I threw on my clothes, looked in the mirror, and tried to decide what I should look like today. You should know that I am a Metamorphmagus. I inherited the gene from my mother, so my grandmother says.

Anyway, every year I try to make my appearance different for King's Cross. Apparently my friends have started taking bets on what color my hair will be. My first year, I went to school with normal hair color so people wouldn't think I was a freak, but I got so bored of _brown._ I mean, seriously, it's so dull after a while! The next year I went with icy blue hair, then lime green hair, then red… You get the point.

So, this year, with it being my last year, I think I'll go with… RAINBOW HAIR! Rainbow! I'm a genius! I concentrated _very_ hard to do this one; rainbow has always been a bit of a challenge for me. After about five minutes of staring at the mirror, my hair finally cooperated, and I waltzed into the kitchen, hoping that the rest of the day would be better than last night.

**So… what did you think? I promise not all of the chapters will be this depressing; I just had to get the bad stuff out of the way. Umm… I'm not exactly sure where I want this story to go, so if you have any suggestions, let me know! Reviews are greatly appreciated! :)**


	2. Fighting Cavities

**Hello again! So, I posted on Lily Evans Potter's birthday last time. This time… IT'S DARREN CRISS'S BIRTHDAY! An **_**extremely**_** momentous and paramount day in our history, don't you think? I know I think so :) Anyway, on with the story! It's a lot happier today!  
**_

_Teddy_

"Is everyone ready?"

James had been standing at the door for half an hour—we at least know that _he's_ ready. "WHO CARES IF THEY'RE READY? LET'S GO!" he shouted from the front door.

Ginny rolled her eyes and asked once more, "Is everyone ready?" She glanced at me, then Harry. We both nodded. I had my trunk and my broomstick at my side, and I was ready to be on platform 9 and ¾. "Alright, then. Let's go."

We made our way to the car that the Potters kept in their driveway. Like James's closet, the car was charmed so that there were _much_ room inside of it. I think Harry told me that it was once a Ministry car, but Harry borrowed it so often that he eventually got to keep it. I got into the back with James, Albus, and Lily as Harry and Ginny took the driver and passenger seats. Then, we were off.

The drive to King's Cross station was not too terribly long, but I would bet anything that it was extraordinarily lengthy for James. He could not sit still if his life depended on it. Literally, he was bouncing up and down in his seat the whole ride, saying, "The roads aren't usually this packed," or, "_Please_, let me be a Gryffindor," and of course, "ARE WE THERE YET?" James was opening his car door before we had even parked the car.

We made our way through the station, pulling trunks and carrying James's owl and my broomstick, gathering many stares from people as we went by. I was used to it by then; I had six years of it behind me, and this would be the last time I would get stares at King's Cross. At least I would have rainbow hair while doing it! I smiled pleasantly at my ingenious handiwork.

Our large wizard gang reached the brick barrier, and I went straight through it, eager to be in the magical world again. Once I was past the brick wall, I felt the joy of 9 and ¾ swell up inside of me like a big balloon in my stomach. I'd bet that the balloon was shaped like a smiley face—or at least had a smiley face drawn on it. Anyway, I could see families all across the platform, waving their kids off, going through last-minute check lists, helping their children put bags on the Hogwarts Express. I soon heard Harry's and James's voices behind me. I turned to face them.

"Teddy, you're supposed to wait here for your grandmother; she wanted to see you off for your last year at Hogwarts. I'm going to go help Ginny with the rest of James's bags, alright?" Harry asked me.

"As long as I'm able to see you all before I go." He nodded at my response and left to help Ginny.

I stood for a few minutes before my grandmother walked through the brick wall. She strode toward me in a very official manner, as though she was approaching a business partner. However, as soon as she looked at my face—more than likely combined with my rainbow hair—she became sick with laughter, and hugged me. "Oh, Teddy, dear, sometimes you remind me _exactly_ of your mother," she remarked as she rumpled my hair. I smiled at her words. It was good to know these little things about my mother, even if they were _little_ things. In fact, the little things are the things I want to know most about my mother. "So, are you ready to be off?"

"I believe I am." Maybe I was not? I wasn't sure. This would, after all, be my last time heading off for school. Whether I was ready or not, though, I was still leaving. "I _know_ I am."

She patted my cheek. "I know you are, too, Ted." Her voice broke on my name. She coughed and straightened up in her posture. "Now, do you have everything?"

I rolled my eyes, preparing for her list of questions she asked me every year. "Yes, I do. I triple checked the list. And to answer your next question, I _will_ remember to write you every week. And for the question after _that_, I'll try my absolute best _not_ to get into trouble."

She beamed up at me one last time before kissing my cheek, saying, "I love you, Teddy-bear," and returning through the wall.

I wasn't left to my own devices for long, for Harry came up to me with Lily. Albus and Ginny waved at me from the platform before disappearing through the wall. "Ted, I think we're going to be off." He gave me a hug, clapping me on the back.

"Bye, Teddy. We'll miss you again," uttered a person from below.

I bent down and gave Lily a hug. "Now, you take care of your mummy and daddy and brother for me, okay?" I tapped her nose with my index finger.

She nodded and blinked. Then, all the Potters were gone. All, that is, except for James, who was standing unsurely beside the train. I went over to him.

"Are you getting on or not, mate?"

He looked up at me, his expression nervous for a split second before straightening himself, lowering his eyebrows and frowning at me. "I'm going, I'm going. Merlin!" He then proceeded to climb aboard the train with his many possessions. I rolled my eyes. "Where do we go?" James was standing in the middle of the aisle, expectantly waiting for me to instruct him where to sit.

"Ok, here's the deal. You have to find your own compartment. I already have a designated one with my friends back there." I pointed towards the back of the aisle. "Go make friends in your own year! I promise you'll find someone." We walked further down the aisle before stopping at the window of the compartment of a lonely girl, who looked like a first-year to me. "Go in there, introduce yourself. Say, 'Hi, my name is James. May I sit here?' Okay?"

James nodded, opened the door, and walked into the compartment. As I strolled on, I could hear James saying, presumably to the girl in the compartment, "Hi, my name is James. May I sit here?" I grinned to myself.

Let me tell you what opening the door to my usual compartment felt like. It was like, opening a box of sunshine, or stepping onto a rainbow or something like that. Because many things that make me extremely happy all happened at once.

First, I heard a girl shout, "YES! I WIN! _You_, my dear Robin, own _me_ ten sickles!"

Second, I got a rather _ginormous_ hug from a rather small person.

Thirdly, I listened to someone chuckling from one corner of the room.

Fourthly, I heard a male voice say, "Hey, mate, where've you been?"

And _finally_, I heard a loud "UUUUUGGGGGGGGH! I _HATE_ YOU, TEDDY LUPIN! YOU JUST COST ME FIVE SICKLES!" followed by a chorus of "TEN SICKLES!"—"FIVE SICKLES!"—"TEN SICKLES!"—"FIVE SICKLES!"

I beamed to the ceiling.

I loved my friends.

"Hey! Can I _please_ put my trunk up?" I shouted over all the commotion.

"NO! You may not! You are hereby banned from this compartment!" screamed Robin.

Caleb took my trunk from me. "I hate to break it from you, Robin, but Teddy is _not_ banned from the seating area." He put the trunk on the palms of his hands, lifted it above his head and held it there—trying to look like a macho sumo wrestler or something.

"Caleb, _what_ are you doing?" questioned Kara, as she put down a book she was reading.

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Why, I'm fighting cavities, of course!" He opened his mouth to reveal a piece of chewing gum, which I assumed to be Trident. "And raising my eyebrow, which you can't do."

Kara stuck her tongue out at him, and went back to reading.

Meanwhile, I had an extremely short person clutching my shoulders the whole time.

"Rena, as much as I love your hugs, can I sit down for a minute?" I asked her.

Serena. We all called her Rena. It was much easier to say.

"No, Teddy! This is fun!" She looked at my face. "And you're _really_ tall!" She smiled hugely, and let go of my neck.

"Alright, enough chit-chat. It's time for PAYMENT!"

"Put a cork in it, Tate; I'm not giving you anything," Robin told Tate from a seat by Kara.

"Teddy," Tate looked at me as I sat down. "I bet that your hair would be rainbow, and _look!_ It _is!_" She turned to Robin. "_You owe me ten sickles!"_

Suddenly, Tate dove for Robin, taking out her wand as she did. "GIVE ME THE SICKLES!"

"NEVER! I don't care that I bet he would have macaroni-n'-cheese-colored hair! I'm still not giving you the darn sickles!" Robin screamed back.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah _woah._ Let's time out here for a second, shall we?" Of course, Caleb cut in between the two—a rather deadly thing to do if you ask me.

Kara rolled her eyes from her reading corner, a smile planted on her face.

"So, Teddy," Rena started while sitting across from me, "how was your summer? I missed you!"

Rena. Words to describe Rena? Umm… happy. Short. Red-haired. Happy. Smart. Did I mention happy? I had never seen her frown. Ever. Except when she thinks she's done something wrong. Then she hates herself, and it takes the rest of us to tell her to snap out of it and that she had done nothing wrong at all.

"Good, I suppose. Sort of boring, but good," I answered.

She smiled at me again. "I like you!"—just so you are aware, that's her catch phrase. She says it to just about everybody. I only know one person she hates, and to everyone else, she says "I like you!" on a daily basis.

"Yes, yes, we're all aware that you _like_ _everybody._ There's no need to say it anymore!" Robin is usually nicer, but under the circumstances with Tate, she had gotten a bit grumpy. Caleb was still standing between the two, trying to act like a moderator, but not succeeding.

Rena just smiled at Robin and turned back to me. "So your summer was boring? Why? I thought getting letters from me would brighten your summer a bit!"

"Yes, they did, but still. I mostly babysat James, Albus, and Lily. Anyway, how was your summer?"

"_My_ summer? Well, first, I went bungee jumping off of Mount Everest. Then, I ventured into the Amazon Rainforest and discovered the cure for diabetes—the muggles love me! From there, I took a private jet to America, where I filmed a new movie with Emma Watson called, 'You're Just Jealous of Me,' and everyone there told me to keep talking because my accent was so cool. After that—"

"SHUT UP, TATE!" everyone screamed at her. However, she just kept on talking about her _amazing_ summer. No one could shut up Tate, no matter how hard they tried. Not one of us could prevent her from interrupting a conversation, either.

Tate. You want to know Tate? Well, I remember she was one of the first people that I met at Hogwarts. I sat with her, Caleb and Kara on the way to Hogwarts in my first year. She had stolen a book of Kara's, and I helped get it back, ultimately resulting in a slap on my arm from Tate and a "Thank you so much! Won't you sit with us?" from Kara.

Tate didn't take no for an answer. And anyone who disagreed with her would regret it the next day when they woke up with spiders in their bed. She was a Beater on the Quidditch Team—I was the Keeper—and she worked the Bludger like it was a body part of hers.

In physical appearance, her hair was a dark brown, with bangs that swooped over her forehead. That wasn't what her hair was known for, though. She had _outrageously_ curly hair. I mean, seriously, if you stuck your wand in it, you would never perform magic with it again. The same thing goes for her brother, a fourth year Gryffindor named Oliver.

Rena continued where Tate had left off, "My summer was pretty boring, too, but my brother went to some other friend's house for a few weeks, so it was just me and my parents for a while! So, we went around London to shop and site-see and whatnot." She waved her hand like it was just your everyday thing, two witches and a muggle walking down the London streets. Her face brightened like she remembered something. "Oh! We went to Paris for a couple of days! It was marvelous…"

And so our ride to Hogwarts had officially started.

**Don't worry, I'll describe the other characters more next time! I'll try to update sooner, as well, but a person can only do so much! Reviews are taken greatly into account!  
So, today, I stole a few cyber Red Vines in honor of Darren's birthday. They're right…**

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HERE!**


	3. The SingOff

**No birthdays today! Oh well, it's still a good day to update, right? Thanks for all the reviews! I love them all! Enjoy the chapter! :)**

_Teddy_

"Well, I think I need to be going."

Kara was chosen to be Head Girl this year; she had to leave to perform… whatever duties Head Girls perform.

"_WAAAIT!_ I want to give you a hug!" Rena exclaimed rather loudly. She jumped up from her new seat beside me to attack Kara.

Meanwhile, Tate had resolved to poking Robin until she received some sickles. Robin would give in eventually, I think, though Robin was equally as stubborn as Tate, so I could be wrong.

Robin had her own style. She sort of just did what she wanted to do despite what people thought of her—although no one really thought of her as anything except a bit strange, but still. You get the point. She had short blonde hair that was a little bit below her chin. Oh, and before I forget to tell you, she is _obsessed_ with muggle music, American, mostly, but some British, too.

I met Robin at the feast in the Great Hall right after the sorting had taken place on the first night. She was put into Gryffindor, obviously, and she had been fighting over one cup of chocolate pudding with Tate, even though they had not previously met each other. To shorten the story, Kara had been splattered with chocolaty goop that night. Rena, a complete stranger at the moment, came over to help clean off Kara—Rena's mother had told her how to say some spells before school, apparently. Robin had felt guilty about the incident, but not guilty enough to let Tate have what was left of the pudding.

Anyway, Kara had officially left, and Rena came back to sit beside me. "Oh, I wish we were fourteen again, before all the prefect-head-boy-head-girl garbage came into play. That way Kara could sit with us, again," she said glumly. Although, she didn't stay that way for long. A few seconds later, she was back to being her usual, sunny self, smiling like always.

"So, what are we going to do for our last ride to Hogwarts?" Caleb questioned our cabin of friends.

Before any of us could answer, a reddish-brown head popped into our doorway. "Have any of you seen Kara? We're supposed to be going to the prefect compartment." He was Head Boy, a Ravenclaw named Joel. What I knew about him was little, and what I knew about him came from Rena. Apparently, Rena had known Joel for a while; they grew up in the same neighborhood. "Oh, hi, Rena!"

"Joel!" Rena got up, once again, from her spot to hug the boy while the rest of us sat awkwardly.

"Kara actually left about a minute ago. She might be there by now," Tate answered Joel's question, simultaneously poking Robin.

"Oh… Well, I better go then. I'll see you later, Rena," he said with a smile.

"Bye, Joel!" With that remark from Rena, he left.

She, once again, came to sit down after yet another hug. The rest of us were looking at her. "What? Is there something on my face that's strange?"

No one said anything.

And by that, I mean Tate started talking, "None of us know that kid except for you and Kara."

Rena looked slightly affronted. "So?"

Robin picked up where Tate had left off, "It's just… awkward. The rest of us don't know him, that's all."

"Well, if you're all so desperate to meet him, then go up and say hello!"

Why was Rena being so touchy? She's normally just a go-with-the-flow sort of person, but this was… weird. Hmm… I would have to investigate this behavior later. However, my duty right now was either to change the subject, which I'm horrible at doing, or to evacuate the compartment for a while. "Why don't we go see where the trolley is, Caleb? Come on. We'll be back…" Caleb raised a questioning eyebrow. I jerked my head towards the door and stood up.

For about two seconds, I was walking away from our section by myself. I wasn't sure if Caleb was going to follow. But, like I said, that was for the two seconds before I heard the door open behind me and footsteps entering the hall.

"What's up, mate?"

I wasn't really sure of that answer. "Oh, nothing. I just need to be away from girls right now, I think. Don't you ever feel like that sometimes?"

"Trust me, I do. A lot. You of all people should know that!"

Ah, Caleb. He was one of the two boys in his family—two boys out of six children isn't very many. Besides the Weasleys, I didn't know any wizard family that was larger than Caleb's. Both of his parents were magical, and he had one older sister, Caroline, who had graduated from Hogwarts the previous year, from Ravenclaw. Caleb was the _only_ one in his family to be sorted into Gryffindor. Well, so far. His younger brother, Carver, was in his first year, and the sorting took place at the feast later in the night so his House was undetermined at the moment. Anyway, Caleb had one sister in her fifth year, Carleigh, one in her fourth year, Chloe, and one in her second year, Cadee. All of them were in Ravenclaw.

I could tell you many things about Caleb. First of all, he, sort of like Rena, does his best to like everyone. I'm not saying that he _does_ like everyone, but he tries to, and he never brings out the bad sides of people. Also, he relies on humor to have a conversation, which can be a problem at times, but that at least cheers me up when I feel terrible. Oh, and just so you know, he flips his hair, _constantly._ It's actually kind of ridiculous. Then again, I can just grow some blonde hair like his and mock him any time I want.

Caleb is slightly cocky at times. For example, he started—and probably will keep on starting—every morning with one hundred push-ups beside his bunk. When he was eleven and twelve, in our first and second years, he did pull-ups on the curtain rods every morning, as well. However, when he tried to continue this ritual in third year, he ended up breaking them. It was actually quite hilarious to watch him fall!

I continued our conversation, "Yeah, I do… Come on, let's go find the trolley. I'm starving!"

We continued walking around the train, looking for some yummy chocolate frogs. Oh, chocolate. I have a real obsession with this delicacy. Harry says that my father loved chocolate, too, and that I was just like him in that respect. Anyway, Caleb and I kept searching, but we found no sign of the delicious food trolley.

However, we did find… him.

The one person in all of Hogwarts that no one can stand…

Liam Oldhan.

The only people in the entire _world_ who could even _tolerate_ him were his own parents and the three goonies that followed him around. Even Rena despised the likes of Liam, and _that's_ saying something; Rena likes everyone. Liam had been tormenting our group ever since he and Tate had a potion-off on the first day of Potions class. Tate ended up winning, of course, by producing a potion that turned Liam's hand green for a month. She was satisfied; he was vengeful.

"So, I see you didn't die over the summer like I told you to do."

Caleb countered Liam with a slight eyebrow raise.

"Hello, Liam. I see you didn't get a new face over the summer like _I_ told _you_ to do," I spat.

"At least my face beats a head that probably contains the home for a new species of butterflies." Liam pursed his lips. Merlin, he was an ugly child.

"Are you saying that butterflies live in rainbows? Because I'm pretty positive that they don't," I claimed.

"Are we _really_ talking about where butterflies live? Come on, Teddy, let's go back to our compartment," Caleb suggested.

And with that, we left the Big Ugly standing in his spot.

"Why do you let him bother you?"

"I don't know," I told Caleb. "He just annoys me. Don't tell me he doesn't bug the crap out of you!"

"I know he irritates _me_, Teddy."

The voice was not Caleb's. It was much higher pitched. And very familiar…

I turned on the spot to face her.

Victoire Weasley. Gorgeous, Victoire Weasley. Whom I have known for my whole life—or since I was two, but really, what was the difference? She was, well… indescribable.

"I'll just be going, then," I barely heard Caleb say before he left.

She came towards me with a smirk planted on her face. "You did not come by Shell Cottage this summer."

All I could do was stare at her with my mouth gaping open like an idiot. I really hoped my hair wasn't turning pink…

"You said you would come and see me." She moved a step closer.

Why wasn't my tongue working properly? I had a credible excuse for not going to Shell Cottage! What was wrong with me?

Victoire put her face right up into mine so that our noses were almost touching, and said, "I missed you."

"Nice pink hair, Lupin!" I heard an annoying voice call.

"I'll kill Liam." I stormed down the hallway, away from Victoire, literally about to punch the freak in the face. Wait, away from Victoire? I stopped and turned. She was making her way to me once more.

"Get a life, Liam!" she called to someone behind me. "He's not worth it, Teddy. You and I both know he's just a messed up kid with issues." She then stood on tip-toes to whisper in my ear, "Plus, I kind of like the pink hair."

I smiled as she shrank back down to her normal, petite size. "I have to start heading back to the prefect compartment. Walk with me?"

"Y-yes." We waited until we were past Liam's compartment and a few more Slytherins to start talking.

Victoire was better at making conversation, so she began, "So, how is Teddy Lupin on this fine September first?"

"Decent." It looks like I wouldn't be saying much more than two syllable words to the girl at my side.

"I know you better than _that_, Teddy. Come on, how was your last day of summer?"

Umm… "Interesting." Hey, three syllables! I was on a role!

Victoire raised a perfect, beautiful eyebrow at me skeptically and tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Ok, it was weird. James made this closet thing, and we were in there the whole night and, I had this dream that…" I trailed off. Victoire didn't need to know about my dream. That was between me and my parents.

"This dream that…?"

Crap. "Just forget it." Oh, she would hold this topic out until she got a straight answer. What could I do to distract her…?

"Teddy. Tell me."

I kept my mouth sealed and averted my eyes from hers.

"You asked for it."

She grabbed my ear and towed me to the nearest empty compartment. "Spill." She let go of my ear and shut the door.

"Look, you really should be getting to the prefect compartment. They're probably going over tasks and… stuff. Congratulations, by the way! It's an honor to be selected to be a prefect. You're one lucky fifth-year."

She glared at me. "Cut the crap, Teddy, something's up. If you don't tell me I'll just force it out of you." Aw, _why_ did she have that face? The, you-better-do-what-I-say-or-else face, I mean. Except with Victoire, the face was just so… _pretty,_ that you couldn't help but do whatever the girl wanted.

I sighed and gave in, "Alright, alright. I had this dream about—"

"_There you are!_" Talk about saved by the… bell? More like Robin. "Teddy, we've been looking _everywhere_ for you; you have to come help!" Robin pulled at my arm and dragged me out of the tiny compartment, saying, "Sorry, Victoire! We need him!" as we went.

Robin was practically sprinting down the hallway. I was so confused, but relieved that Robin got me out of confessing my dream to Victoire. "What happened?" I asked Robin.

"Caleb came back to us, and he was like, 'Oh, Teddy's with Victoire,' and then Tate was like, 'No, he can't be because Victoire is a prefect!' So then they got into this _huge_ argument while Rena and I are just standing to the side wondering what to do, so we decided to go looking for you and to meet back at the compartment in ten minutes and now I have to get you to break up their argument!" She did not breathe while saying any of this.

We reached the door to our little cubicle, and Robin opened it. I could not believe my eyes.

There was splotchy black ink everywhere; Caleb's once blonde hair had turned black in the process. Tate's hair had random new colors on it—a streak of yellow here, a patch of red there. Both of their trunks had been dumped and strayed across the room, and Tate's cat, Moose, was curled up under one of the seats—he looked quite terrified. The two were facing each other, with looks of pure hatred on their faces.

"THAT'S IT, CALEB! I WILL DESTROY YOU!" With that, Tate lunged at Caleb, put her wand at his throat, and said, "Any last words, Buttface?"

"OBJECTION! I WILL NOT BE DEALT WITH IN THIS MANNER!" Caleb shouted in Tate's face. He took her wand, and pushed her back. "Listen! I know the best option to dealing with this argument, Tate!"

"Oh! I know! We sit down, eat some popcorn, and drink some Diet Cokes. Yes, I like my idea! Who's up for Cokes?"

"SHUT UP, ROBIN! This is _not_ the time for Cokes!" Tate yelled at Robin.

Robin was obsessed with the muggle drink called "Diet Coke." Supposedly she has a secret stash in her trunk and had at least three of them every day. "Correction, Tate, _every_ time is a time for Diet Cokes!"

"_Listen to me!_" The two girls turned to my best friend. "We will end this in a sing-off."

Oh no. This was not going to turn out well. I sat down in the chair that was least covered in ink just as Rena entered the compartment. Her eyes widened.

"I'll go first." Then, Caleb began singing some old song by the Weird Sisters. His voice was actually pretty good.

And then Tate cut in. "Alright, you had your chance. Now it's _my_ turn." Tate began where Caleb left off in the song.

She only got about one line in before Caleb re-joined.

"_Shush_, Caleb! It's _my_ turn!"

"Oh well! I like that song, and I have the urge to sing, so deal with it, Tiny!"

"YOU DID, NOT JUST CALL ME TINY! You know, you're short, too!"

"I realize that, but I'm not as short as YOU!"

"OH, THAT'S IT!" I shouted at the two of them. I stepped in between the two of them, and put my left hand on Tate's shoulder, my right on Caleb's shoulder. "You guys need to stop!"

Tate was truly mad. I had never seen her like this. She shrieked at me, "Why? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't metaphorically punch him in the gut?"

"Because then, Moose would be a homeless cat. He would wander around the streets with no one, because I would most certainly lose him!"

I saw Rena elbow Robin out of the corner of my eye.

"Because no one wants to hear you two fighting!" I said.

The room had gone silent.

"Umm… Truce, Tate?" Caleb extended a hand toward her.

Tate just glared at him, but still replied, "Truce." They shook hands.

I heard a small _meow_ coming from the window. Everyone in the cabin turned to Moose, who had his paw on the window. He _meow_ed again. We all looked out the window.

There, high on a hill, sat the place that had held many of our adventures, triumphs, and memories. There, sat Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

**So? What do you think? Or if you're from the Shakespearean times, what think ye? If you have any ideas, let me know! I'm glad to hear any suggestions! Please review? I'm sorry, but as it is no one's birthday, I have no cyber treats… Will you take a cyber hug? :D**


	4. The Grand Entrance

**So, I realize that it's been… what, more than five months since I last updated? I'm TERRIBLY sorry! So much has happened in the past few months; it's crazy! School, and then summer work have left me sleep deprived, and Word mysteriously stopped working on my computer, so I'm settling for an extremely run-down version called "WordPad." It's probably the crappiest thing ever invented for the computer. ANYWAY, on with the story!**

_Teddy_

I hated cleaning. Even just cleaning my room bored me to tears, and now I was stuck cleaning up a horrible mess made by two friends who refused to do much to help. Great.

At least Rena was willing to help. Robin was dancing around the room with Moose and her own cat, the Beast—getting in the way of everything, I might add—singing, "You are his cheeseburger, his tasty cheeseburger!" Whatever that meant. It must have been something American.

Caleb and Tate both sat across the compartment, glaring at each other. I knew that making them form a truce would not do anything, but I had to get the madness to stop! I mean,_ really_, they had started a _singing competition_! It was getting slightly out-of-hand, and that was all I could think of. I knew it wouldn't last, but... still. _Maybe_ the "truce"—in another word, SILENCE—would hold out for tonight. Maybe.

"Alright. I think that's everything," Rena proclaimed as she surveyed the area one last time.

I moved out of the way of another one of Robin's twirls and replied, "Good. Now, let's get changed; we should be at the Hogsmeade station any minute now."

About two minutes after we had all changed into our _totally_ awesome Gryffindor robes, the train stopped. I was getting my things together when someone else entered the room. Or should I say _re_entered the room?

"KARA!" Rena shouted. I turned to face Kara just in time to see Rena give her yet _another_ hug. Ah, Rena. What an interesting little person.

"Hi, Rena." Kara was used to this; you could tell by the amused expression on her face that this had happened to her a lot.

Caleb looked up from packing, and the sullen, angry expression on his face turned into a delightful, cheery one. "Kara! Why are you back here? Don't you have to go do Head Girl stuff?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "Of course not, stupid. I don't have to stay away from you lot the_ whole_ day. Just for the ride to Hogwarts, that's all. Now, we _must_ be getting off the train; we have to find an empty carriage." She _did_ have a point. Carriages were only for six people, and there were... six of us. So finding an empty carriage would be a difficult task.

Once we all had our belongings together, we left the Hogwarts Express for the last time. It was actually quite sad. Tate gave a speech to the compartment about how if he let anyone else sit here, he would be cheating on us. Robin followed Tate by saying "a few words to the little fellow." _Her_ speech made me feel like I was at a funeral. I simply left the compartment after that; we needed a carriage. Apparently Kara, Caleb, and Rena agreed because they all followed me.

Caleb was the first to speak when we were off the train. "Well, now that I'm _sufficiently_ depressed..."

"Oh, shut up. Let's find a carriage." Kara wasn't normally so serious... I guessed she was just trying to hold in her feelings about leaving the train. Yes, that was what it was. She did look rather morose.

We continued searching for an empty ride to Hogwarts for a good five minutes until we finally discovered one. I let the other three pile into the seats before me; I would wait outside until Tate and Robin showed up. A couple minutes passed; I shifted my weight onto my left leg. Rena stuck her head out to check on me a few minutes after that. "Any sign of them, Teddy?"

"Not yet."

"Just checking. Kara looks bored in here."

I resumed my post. Five more minutes passed. Then ten minutes. After roughly fifteen minutes of waiting, and being one of the few carriages left in the area, I gave up on my lookout. Tate and Robin must have gotten a different carriage. I presented the news to everyone else.

"I don't know. That doesn't seem like them. They would try to find us," Caleb declared.

Kara rolled her eyes. "Oh well. They'll get to school. It'll be okay. Let's just make sure we find them in the Great Hall, and if we don't see them before the Sorting, we'll go look for them. Deal?"

Everyone else agreed, myself included; it sounded like an okay plan to me. I was just about to close the door when two other students appeared outside of our carriage. They were Jackson Gold and Clayton Robs, two Ravenclaws in their—I think?—fifth year. I did not know them very well except that Jackson was friends with Victoire, and Clayton... Well, I didn't know Clayton that well. Jackson spoke, "There aren't any more carriages with two seats. Can we tag along with you if there's room?"

I didn't like Jackson that much. I mean... He seemed nice, but he hung around Victoire far too much for my taste. But what was I supposed to do? Say, "No, we have no room, sorry," while there were two, perfectly empty seats in our carriage and force them to walk to the castle? I wasn't _that_ hateful. Instead I said, "Yeah, sure. We have two empty seats." The two piled in, I closed the door, and the carriage was off.

Harry told me before my second year that we would be riding carriages that were pulled by Thestrals to Hogwarts instead of boats. I then proceeded to ask, "Harry, what are Thestrals? What do they look like? May we pet them? How—"

"Slow down, Teddy," he told me. "Thestrals are creatures that you won't be able to see, and I would not recommend trying to pet them."

"But why won't I be able to see them, Harry?"

He sighed over my question. "I am only telling you about the Thestrals because you remind me quite a bit of myself, and I believe you can handle the truth."

I nodded.

Harry continued, "The only people who can see them are people who have seen death."

I think at this moment, my brow furrowed. "Really, Harry? So... It's _not_ a good thing if you can see the Thestrals?"

"Oh, Thestrals are very pleasant, but most people have seen horrible things if they are able to see them."

That conversation has stuck with me ever since.

Every time I rode one of the carriages to Hogwarts, I thought of that talk with Harry. I wondered what Thestrals _really_ looked like. Of course, I hopefully will never have to see one. If only Harry had decent drawing skills, that way he could draw a picture of them or something. As you can tell, curiosity often nags at me.

The ride to Hogwarts was much quieter than it should have been. Rena, Kara, and I sat on one side of the carriage looking upon Caleb and our two guests, who all sat on the other side. Honestly, it was quite... awkward. I just wanted the ride to be over with. About ten minutes later, my wish was granted. All of us hastily exited the Awkwardmobile. Jackson said a quick, "Thank you," and he took off with Clayton.

"Well, that was awkward," Kara said as we walked into our school. Oh, how I had missed Hogwarts.

"Thank you for pointing out the elephant in the room, Kara."

"Shut up, Caleb."

The four of us walked down the corridor into the Great Hall. Most of the other students were seated, but there were some standing up and talking with friends about how their summers were and what they did and other things like that, I would assume. I spotted Victoire sitting at the Gryffindor table with her friends. She was laughing about something... Merlin. I've got to stop staring at her. If only I could...

"Well, I don't see Tate or Robin. This is _not_ good. I should probably go—"

"Good evening, students!" Kara was cut off by the headmaster, Professor Saggio. "Please, take your seats!" Everyone sat at their designated tables, including me and my friends. "Thank you, everyone, and welcome back!" I rather liked our headmaster. She was a tall, middle-aged woman with a kind smile, bright blue eyes, and wavy brown-gray hair. Anyone could tell that she loved her students, and that she loved teaching them. "Now, before the announcements, we have some business to do! Professor Longbottom, bring in the first-years!"

Neville—I mean, Professor Longbottom led the group of first-years into the hall; their eyes widened and examined the room as they walked. However, there were two of the students in that group that did not belong with the first-years. I rolled my eyes. Kara gasped. Caleb started snickering with Rena. I could hear many students laughing around the Hall. All of this happened while Tate and Robin strolled in with all the little first-years, winking and waving at all of the people in the room. Professor Saggio had an extremely amused expression on her face. Mine probably looked very similar to it. Cole Findall, a sixth-year Gryffindor got up and high-fived Tate as she walked by him.

Once the laughter in the room had died down, and the group of first-years, Tate, Robin, and Neville had made it to the front of the Hall, Professor Saggio began to speak. However, she stopped talking when Tate moved forward to the stool with the Sorting Hat. Tate sat down, put the hat on her head, and waited. The Sorting Hat grumbled, "Ah! You! What on earth are you doing back here? I thought I would never have to feel your itchy, curly hair against my cloth again!"

"I wish to be Sorted again, Hat!" Tate demanded.

"You're a seventh-year, though!"

"So?"

"Ugh, alright, just to get me out of your hair, _literally_... GRYFFINDOR!"

And of course, the entire Gryffindor table cheered so loudly that the room was shaking. Tate took the hat off, stood up on the stool, fist pumped the air, and jumped onto the Gryffindor table. She turned the table into a runway and started dancing toward where Rena, Caleb, Kara, and I were sitting while the whole school cheered her on. It was extremely entertaining, and I could _not_ stop laughing. She finally sat down in between Rena and me, with a smug grin on her face. Clearly, she was satisfied.

Now, it was Robin's turn. Robin sat dutifully on the stool, and placed the hat on her head. "Oh, not another one..." said the Hat exasperatedly.

"Sort me, or I'll set The Beast loose on you and all of your little hat buddies!"

"The what?"

"The Beast. He's my cat."

"Fine, fine, no need to make threats. Maybe I should have put you in Slytherin. Eh, oh well... GRYFFINDOR!" Robin jumped up from the stool as we all cheered once more. She then ran up to the table of professors and high-fived each one of them before coming back to the Gryffindor table and sitting beside Kara, who was laughing uncontrollably at the whole situation.

It took about five minutes to get everyone to calm down after that… display. After everyone was quiet, Neville helped Sort the first-years, which included Victoire's younger brother, Louis, and George and Angelina Weasley's daughter, Roxanne. It was always enjoyable to watch people that I knew get Sorted into their Houses, although when they were Weasleys, it was always clear as to which House they would be put in. Both Louis and Roxanne were Sorted into Gryffindor, to no surprise.

"Well, now that we are all Sorted, it's time for the announcements!" Professor Saggio began. "As usual, you are all instructed to follow your prefects to your Houses after the feast. Also, be sure to be aware of the House Cup point-count, as... usual... Umm, well, there isn't really much else. Stay out of the Forbidden Forest, and enjoy the feast tonight! Let's have a great year at Hogwarts!" Everyone clapped after her _usual_ speech, and then there was food. And lots of it. Tate, Robin, and I were the big eaters of our group, and we practically gobbled up everything in sight. What could I say, though? It was delicious stuff! The pumpkin juice at this school was the best! Also, I was pretty sure that Neville got the elves in the kitchens to send me up the steak, especially because it was so pink and juicy that no one else at the entire table would eat it but me. I got my taste for nearly-raw meat from my dad. Rena tried to avoid my eye contact while I was eating; she was a vegetarian. Thankfully Tate had sat in between us, or else Rena might have had to leave the room to eat in peace.

Let me tell you, it was really amazing to be back with my friends at school. Have you ever not seen a friend for a few days, and those days had felt like weeks? Well, I hadn't seen my five best friends for _months,_ and it has _definitely_ felt like _years_. Now that we were back, though, we were all laughing and having a great time. It was just... great. There was no other word to describe it. Even Tate and Caleb seemed to forget about the compartment incident.

The feast had ended, and Kara led the Gryffindors to the portrait of the Fat Lady. She told us the password for this month—Fizzing Whizbees—and our House entered the Gryffindor common room, which was filled with comfy chairs, portraits, and a warm fireplace. I hadn't realized how much I had missed this place until I got here. Anyway, Kara told everyone which staircase was for boys, which was for girls, and then everyone was off to bed. Caleb and I went with the boys to our room, where we all nearly crashed right away. I heard Ricky Harvy say from his bunk, "It sure is good to be back, guys." We all responded with "yeah"s and "definitely"s.

Right before I was about to sleep, Caleb did 20 sit-ups in the center of the room. He then stood up, whispered, "Man, this is going to be a good year," to no one in particular, got in his bunk and went to sleep. I had a feeling that Caleb was right; this year would be the best year of Hogwarts yet.

Little did I know just how wrong we both were.

**So I know it's not much, but I swear, it will get better! I have this awesome plot and stuff, and it's totally awesome, and I'm very excited! I promise not to wait this long to update ever again, but it might be every couple of weeks for updating because of school and work and what-not. So… Thanks for reading! Reviews and suggestions and greatly appreciated! :) Much thanks to simplypurple207! Go read her stories! They are amazing! :D**


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